Two of a Kind
by OneShotWonderment
Summary: Companion to "Misplaced and Misunderstood" & "This is the Time of My Life."    Dr. Rosen isn't blind.


**Title:**Two of a Kind

**Author: **OneShotWonderment (or lt-sp on LJ)

**Pairing:**Gary/Rachel

**Rating:**G

**Summary:**Dr. Rosen isn't blind.

**Notes/Warnings:** - There are only spoilers if you don't know who Gary, Nina and Rachel are.

- Companion piece to "Misplaced and Misunderstood" & "This is the Time of My Life."

- Title from the song, _"Picture Perfect" _by Angela Via

**Disclaimer:**

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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><p>Rachel cannot help smiling as Gary walks up to the car clutching his brown lunch to his chest as if someone will come along and try to take it from him. He is always happy to go to work just as Rachel is. Rachel waves to Gary's mother, though they never spoken, and then she grins as her best friend climbs into the van.<p>

"Morning, Gary." She says turning in her seat to look at him. His hands are moving quickly, his eyes scanning channels of information that she could not see.

"Good morning, Dr. Rosen. Rachel." His words are familiar as is his lack of attention while saying them. His gaze never wavers from his channels, but a smile graced his face assuring his coworkers that he was aware of his surroundings despite his division in attention. "Rachel, Rachel, Rachel…"

"Yes, Gary?"

He shakes his head. "Never mind." Rachel simply smiles at him, familiar with Gary's way of living and interacting with others by now, before turning back around and bringing her eyes back to the road in front of her.

The rest of the ride back to their offices is punctuated by Gary's soft humming and Rachel's matching finger-tapping sounds against her. She is matching Gary beat for beat without even trying. Dr. Rosen fought to keep the smile off his face. The connection between the two youngest ALPHAS in his group is obvious and the scientist in him wants to see the effect it will have on them and everyone around them. At a minimum effect, he hopes that Gary will come out of his headspace and learn to see the world around him without hiding behind his ability. He wants Rachel to learn how to be herself without the crippling fear that she will hurt someone else's feelings by doing so. No matter what the result, he knows that their bond will be good for them.

Nina, Cameron, and Bill are already there when the trio arrives. Everyone goes into their own offices for a day full of paperwork and using their assorted abilities to discover new leads on their current case. Gary is the first, as always, to notice when the clock strikes twelve.

"Lunchtime!" He yells. He bangs lightly on everyone's door proclaiming the same thing.

"Rachel," He starts after the twenty-three-year-old grants him entrance to her office. "It's lunchtime, Rachel."

"Okay, thank you for telling me, Gary." She smiles gently as she sets her pen down and pushes the half-completed paperwork aside. Gary drops his eyes intimidated by kindness and Rachel has the sudden urge to hug him until he smiles, but she doesn't want to make him even more uncomfortable.

"You're welcome." He mumbles and then quickly flees the room. Rachel sighs as she watches him leave. Before she could think on it too much, Nina appeared in the doorway.

"Team bonding lunch, you coming?"

Rachel nods and stands up from her desk. She grabs her purse and steps up to her door. "Sure, I forgot to grab something for lunch anyway."

Nina stepped back as Rachel exited her office and locked it up. Cameron and Bill are standing just a few feet behind Nina, ready to go. "Dr. Rosen's meeting us there." Bill informs her before she can think to ask after their boss. Rachel nods shifting her purse further up her arm. The four team members start down the long hallway to the elevator.

"Is Gary riding with Dr. Rosen?" Bill's shifty eyes and Nina's sudden lack of forward movement are all the answer Rachel needs.

"Please tell me that you didn't forget to invite him...again."

"We didn't forget," Bill starts, but even without her ability, Rachel can hear the slight shake in his voice indicative of a lie. "He never wants to go anyway so what's the point of asking?"

Rachel huffs angrily and lets her purse drop to her hand to keep her from lashing out. She has never hit anyone in her life, but the temptation to do just that is very strong. "The point is, Bill," She makes sure to put emphasis on his name. "Gary is a part of this team, a vital part in case you as team leader didn't realize that. That is why you should invite him to team bonding lunches. It doesn't matter if he accepts or not. You should still ask!"

She storms off toward their office's kitchen at the other end of the hall, intent on finding Gary once more. Gary looks up as Rachel storms into the kitchen. His lunch is already out of the bag it was packed and set out on an unfolded napkin. "Gary, the others want to go for a team bonding lunch. Would you care to join us?"

Gary shakes his head. "No, thank you. No, no. I have lunch already and my mom, my mom says fast food is bad for me. It's why she packs my lunches. "

Rachel half turns back toward the hallway. "Bye!" She calls to Nina who seems hesitant to leave her behind.

"I'll bring you something back." The taller girl calls just as the doors close on the elevator separating the two factions of the group. Two factions that should not exist; they were meant to be more solid than this, but there was nothing that could be done about it now.

"You should have gone with them."

Rachel turns back to the kitchen surprised by Gary's opinion. "I'm not going to leave you behind. You're a part of the team too. It isn't right for all of us to just abandon you; that's not a team."

His gaze latched onto the grey tabletop as he processed her statements and Rachel took the opportunity to sit at the table beside him. She opened up his brown lunch bag and began to place the trash, which Gary had piled up in front of him, into it. She is well aware of her best friend's lunch routine and makes sure to follow it exactly so she did not upset his balance too much. She gets up from the table to throw the bag away and when she returns, she discovers Gary's lunch placed between her half of the table and Gary's. The lunch is split perfectly evenly.

"You didn't bring lunch today." Gary says simply and tears rush to Rachel's eyes. No one else notices her in the way Gary does.

Rachel picks up her half of the sandwich and bit into. It was wonderful. She swallows and then says, "Thank you, Gary." He simply nods. For most of their hour lunch break, the friends talk in gentle tones about a wide variety of subjects, neither of them notices the smiling Dr. Rosen watching them from his office.

Yes, Dr. Rosen, was sure that their relationship would be the best thing for them.

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><p><strong>AN:** I hope you enjoyed the third part of this series. If you love Gary/Rachel as much as I do, please visit: _(just place dots in the spaces)_

www fanforum com /f88/gary-rachel-%7Balphas%7D-1-because-gary-makes-rachel-smile-63007591/


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